CABS

COCKPIT AIR BAG SYSTEM

No Photograph Currently Available US Army orders air bags for Black Hawk Helicopters
April 27th, 1999 The US Army will begin installing a new helicopter cockpit air bag system, or CABS, into its fleet of UH-60A/L Black Hawk Helicopters. The CABS, developed by Simula Safety Systems, Inc., a unit of Simula, Inc, is designed as a supplemental restraint system to prevent fatal and major injuries to aircrew members during survivable aircraft crashes. Over the past 9 years, more than 30 aviators have died in crashes the US Army believes were survivable; another 11 pilots suffered serious injuries. The CABS provides aircrew protection by enveloping the pilots in air bags that surround and cushion the head and upper torso from impact with sharp or protruding objects within the cockpit and from exterior intrusion. The US Army has awarded a Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) contract valued at $7.1 million dollars to Simula Safety Systems to provide 275 CABS shipsets and 15 spare shipsets for the Army's Black Hawk fleet. Production of these CABS kits, which contain air bag modules and associated crash sensors, will begin this summer after the successful completion of joint Army/Simula qualification testing. Simula believes this will lead later this year to a Limited Production order from the US Army for as many as 215 additional CABS units and spares. Additionally, Simula has another contract with the US Army to adapt the Black Hawk CABS for use on another helicopter, the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior. Production options for the Kiowa CABS contract are scheduled to begin in late 1999. The Kiowa CABS adaptation integrates Simula's Inflatable Tubular Structure (ITS) in place of the lateral air bag that is used in the Black Hawk configuration. The Sedona Scientific Division of Simula Safety Systems, Inc. designed and developed the omni-directional crash sensor that provides data recording capability and is programmable for multiple aircraft. Simula has supplied other crash protection systems for military applications. The Company's energy-absorbing crashworthy seats are used in more than 75 percent of military helicopters worldwide. Another Simula product, the Inflatable Tubular Torso Restraint, or ITTR(TM), which is an inflatable seatbelt, is also under evaluation for both military and civilian vehicle applications. Simula's research and development unit, Simula Technologies, Inc., is under contract to the US Army's Tank-automotive and Armament Command (TACOM) to conduct full-scale vehicle frontal and rollover crash tests with both the ITS and ITTR in the US Army's Heavy Tactical Vehicles (HTVs). The objective of this testing is to find more effective ways of reducing serious injuries among soldiers. Usually it is other industries that benefit from aviation technology, here it is the other way around.

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